Future Forum Pulse: Executives Feel the Strain of Leading in the 'New Normal'

Future Forum is a consortium focused on building a way of working that's flexible, inclusive and connected. It conducts research and convenes executives to design a people-centered and digital-first workplace. Since June 2020, Future Forum has conducted quarterly surveys of workers and managers across the globe, asking them a series of questions related to the employee experience, including about productivity, sense of belonging, and preferred ways of working.

This report summarizes the findings of the Fall 2022 Future Forum Pulse, a survey of 10,766 workers across the U.S., Australia, France, Germany, Japan, and the U.K., conducted from August 3–21, 2022. Survey respondents were all employed full-time (30 or more hours per week) and either having one of the roles listed below or saying they “work with data, analyze information or think creatively”: executive management (e.g., president/partner, CEO, CFO, C-suite), senior management (e.g., executive vice president, senior vice president), middle management (e.g., department/group manager, vice president), junior management (e.g., manager, team leader), senior staff (i.e., non-management), skilled office worker (e.g., analyst, graphic designer). For brevity, we refer to the survey population as “desk-based” or “desk workers.”